(Poem) Temple


Memoirs are all that remain of the days
Drifting along the shore of sanity,
Beneath ripples of the waves in my veins
Respite is merely vanity.

Silent sobs muffled by the noise
Longing for the song of your voice.
Sleep hardly if ever kisses my eyes
For the bruises of the last goodbyes.

Where to now? My barren soul cries
In the ruins of the heart, they say
A temple lies.

Drunken whirls of dervishes in the dusk,
Streams of wine and the aroma of musk,
A lake so serene, beneath a moist sky;
Prayers by the shore, they say, never go dry.

Lust makes way for divine union in the yards
Underneath the maple trees, On the floor of fallen leaves
A crescent moon as witness, encircled by the stars

Ecstasy floods the body and passion consumes the soul
The grand communion arouses the dead to be whole

I yearn for a day there, whatever cost it might
To succumb to the pleasures of a never-ending night

There is a sway in the steps and a glint in the eyes
Unrest in reaching the temple before yesterday’s sunrise

Shall I find the illusive pause my wits search for?
The promise of ecstasy of neither or nor?

My spirit has arrived, spurring the form to follow
The gates of this shrine await me tomorrow
A dance with the moon and rapture of the stars
The bliss of leaving behind yesterday’s scars

The path is long, the journey rather weary
Though at the end and beyond the hills
I shall find this divine sanctuary.

Carry nothing but the heart, they said
And pains of past
After the eternal night at the pantheon, they said
Break free at last.


By Montasir Monsur Sourav